A dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Archaeology to the Faculty of Science, University of Witwatersrand, 2019 / The study examines the technology of crystal quartz pieces from Pomongwe Cave (PMG),
Matopos, and south-western Zimbabwe. It focuses on the Middle and Later Stone Age (MSA
and LSA) assemblages, which were excavated in the early 1960s by C. K Cooke and is housed
at the Zimbabwe Museum of Human Sciences (ZMHS) in Harare. The research employs the
chaîne opératoire approach to the study of crystal quartz technology, which follows all the
stages of lithic production from the sourcing of the raw material through exploitation, use and
discard patterns. It seeks to understand how the hunter-gatherers at Pomongwe (PMG hereafter)
exploited this material and how they adapted their technologies to suit the physical and
mechanical properties of crystal quartz through time at the site. On a broader scale, the study
contributes to our understanding of the development of Modern Human Behaviours (MHBs).
The results of the study show that the sourcing of the crystals was mainly from a secondary
context throughout the MSA and LSA sequence. The presence and distribution of the material
also varied throughout the MSA and LSA sequence, suggesting that the raw material was more
prominent with the inhabitants during certain periods than others. The results through
classification also show that not all collected crystals were exploited for lithic production,
which raises questions as to why they were collected. The cores and blanks show that the
crystals were mainly opened from the pyramid and exploited going towards the base of the
crystal. The most notable change in the exploitation of crystal quartz throughout the MSA and
LSA sequence at PMG is that of the reduction in the sizes of the blanks going towards the LSA. / TL (2020)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/29668 |
| Date | January 2019 |
| Creators | Matembo, Joseph |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | Online resource (x, 124 pages), application/pdf |
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